Retirement & Financial Planning Report Issue Friday, September 3, 2004 FEDweek is the largest information resource in the federal government with now over one million weekly readers.
*********************************************************** Valuable Information for the Federal Family 2004 Interactive Federal Leave Record at http://www.fedweek.com/Services/default.asp FEDweek Weekly Electronic Newsletter Go to http://www.fedweek.com to Sign Up-FREE! Brand New Federal Manager's Daily Report http://www.fedweek.com/subscribepopup.htm Job Bulletin Board Federal Job Search http://www.fedweek.com/Jobs/default.asp ********************************************************** In This Week's Issue: 1. GSA Contract to Provide Agencies With Contact Center Services 2. New Book Looks at Trend in Governing by Network 3. Competitions Often Waived in Defense Task Orders, Says GAO *********************************************************** 1. GSA Contract to Provide Agencies With Contact Center Services The General Services Administration has announced a new contract designed to help federal agencies establish single or multidimensional telephone and email contact centers. Agencies now have access through GSA to a contract vehicle designed to provide fully managed telephone and e-mail contact center solutions, said GSA. "This contract will save agencies time and money, and ultimately make it easier and faster for citizens to get the right information," said GSA Administrator Stephen A. Perry. It said the one-year contract with five one year renewal options would be worth about $150 million over five years. "Now agencies can come to USA Services for help in setting up easily accessible, timely and complete information delivery systems to respond to citizens' questions via communications channels of their choice," said Mary Joy Jameson, associate administrator of the office of citizen services and communications. 2. New Book Looks at Trend in Governing by Network Government executives are increasingly using independent and public organizations to deliver public services and carry out public policy and are relying less on top-down management, according to a new book from the Brookings Institution Press. "Governing by Network, The New Shape of the Public Sector," argues that, "agencies are becoming less important as direct service providers, and more vital as levers of the public good." Governing by network means working through relationships and partners and according to a synopsis on the Brookings Institution website, the book examines the government's transformation to working through networks of non-governmental entities and borrows from the experiences of "public innovators." Written by Stephen Goldsmith, faculty director of the Innovations in American Government Program at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, chair of the Manhattan Institute Center on Civic Innovation, and William D. Eggers, global director at Deloitte Research, Public Sector, and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, the book also demonstrates how managing provider networks differs from managing divisions of employees and draws on case studies to offer network-governance principles. Drawing from dozens of case studies, as well as established best practices, it aims to develop lessons to inform elected officials, business executives, and the broader public. The paperback is available for $18.95 plus shipping at http://www.brook.edu. 3. Competitions Often Waived in Defense Task Orders, Says GAO After finding randomly selecting and reviewing 74 task orders at five Department of Defense buying organizations and finding that competition requirements were waived in 34 of them, the Government Accountability Office called for additional pro-competition guidance. It said DoD spends billions each year on services issued through task orders under multiple-award contracts or the General Services Administration's federal supply schedule program, and Congress has enacted section 803 of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2002, requiring DoD to promote competition and setting out when it can be waived. However, the current guidance for granting waivers does not sufficiently describe the circumstances under which a waiver for competition may be used, and there are no safeguards ensuring contracts are re-issued to current suppliers only under appropriate circumstances, according to GAO-04-874. It said, "striking the right balance between achieving the benefits of competition and retaining contractors that are satisfying customer needs is a challenge for DoD." Frequent waiver use could hinder DoD's ability to obtain innovative solutions and the best value, said GAO, but it also noted that requests by program officials to waive competition in retaining current contractors could just mean they are getting the job done. FEDweek 11551 Nuckols Rd. Suite L Glen Allen, VA 23059 (804) 288-5321 Website: http://www.fedweek.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are subscribed to federalmanagersdailyreport as [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe, send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/BCfwlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! 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